Baby born in train station
Auckland’s busiest train station has been boasting about better arrival times but no-one expected this passenger to arrive early.
Baby Olivia Wackrow was born on November 5 at about 4pm at Britomart Station after her mother, Emma Wackrow, went into early labour inside a cubicle in the transport centre’s women’s toilets.
The Wackrow family had arrived in the CBD by train from Avondale and were walking up Albert St to meet friends for dinner when Emma started to feel very uncomfortable.
‘‘The baby was really moving a lot. It was quite painful,’’ she said. ‘‘But I didn’t really think anything of it because she had been doing this for a couple of weeks.’’
She and husband Martin decided the family should return to Britomart to take the next train home, but upon arrival, Emma had an overwhelming urge to use the toilet. ‘‘The whole thing happened within a space of 10 minutes, from going into that bathroom to holding her in my arms.
‘‘It’s funny just how the human body knows what to do. Instinct kicked in and everything took care of itself really.’’
While in the toilet, there was no time for Emma to panic as she was focused on keeping her 2-year-old son Luke calm.
‘‘I didn’t want him to see me in pain. He kept saying: ‘Are you OK, Mummy?’ And I was saying: ‘Yeah, Mummy is fine, Mummy’s just got a sore tummy’.’’
Even with all the commotion inside the bathroom, commuters surprisingly continued to use the toilets, she said.
‘‘The worse thing was they kept using the hand-dryer and Luke is really scared of it, so I screamed ‘stop using the hand-dryer, you’re scaring the toddler’.’’
Meanwhile, Auckland Transport (AT) customer representative and student nurse Ashley Lang was busy selling HOP cards when co-worker Vivi Tiavolo rushed to her booth.
‘‘She said someone was scream- ing and giving birth in the bathroom and could I come and assist.’’
The baby was most of the way out when Lang entered the bathroom stall, Lang said. ‘‘I let her do her thing for a minute, then I introduced myself and we got busy delivering the placenta.’’
Lang, who is eight months pregnant herself, had delivered fake babies while studying midwifery but had never done the real thing before. ‘‘I think adrenaline kicked in and I was glad she was as easy of a birth as it could be.’’
AT spokesman Mark Hannan said this was the first baby to be born in the station. The Wackrows would recieve a $100 HOP card to thank them for supporting public transport, he said.